Leclerc: Sometimes you need luck to be on your side.

      At Silverstone, Charles Leclerc achieved his first victory of the season and the ninth of his Formula 1 career, having last stood on the top step of the podium in October 2024 at the US Grand Prix...

      Question: You had a great race, and it has been 624 days since your last victory. What does this success mean to you?

      Charles Leclerc: This is a very important success, as there have been many difficulties lately, and I have been going through an unfavorable streak for several races – there was a lot of negativity around me, various talks were going on, and working in such an atmosphere is always unpleasant.

      But I am very proud of our entire team, as they pushed me and helped me regain the right feelings behind the wheel, which required perseverance and continued effort, and today we achieved an excellent result.

      As I said, this is just the first step, which still needs to be confirmed on different track configurations. But at Silverstone, where confidence is most important, I wouldn't have been able to perform like this if I hadn't felt comfortable behind the wheel. Overall, everything is wonderful!

      Question: Of course, this can be seen as a kind of compensation for what happened at this track in 2021, when you led for most of the race but finished second...

      Charles Leclerc: When I was behind the wheel, I didn't think about it, and I don't know if it can be considered some kind of compensation, but right now I am very happy, that's for sure!

      Question: You took the lead right at the start and never looked back – tell us how the early stages of the race went...

      Charles Leclerc: Yes, we had a very confident start, although it wasn't guaranteed that it would turn out that way, because in the Saturday sprint we had a very poor start. This moment needed special attention. Then I managed to find the right approach to the tires, and I tried to maintain the feeling of driving that I had with the SF-26 during qualifying.

      I knew how to act, knew how to change settings with the switches on the steering wheel, using the tools at my disposal. Overall, I felt very comfortable behind the wheel, especially in the first part of the race, and I realized that I could win.

      Towards the end of the race, when Kimi Antonelli was catching up with me, difficulties could have started, but in this regard, we were lucky today. However, sometimes you need a bit of luck on your side as well.

      Question: And that is indeed the case. Ferrari has won two of the last three races – is there a feeling that the car now allows you to compete with Mercedes on all tracks?

      Charles Leclerc: I think it's too early to say that. But I believe that this weekend the entire team was truly surprised. It's not just about today's victory, but about our speed in general. We were faster than we expected, and I think we must analyze not only situations when things go worse than expected but also those when everything turns out much better than we anticipated.

      I remember how on Thursday before the weekend we estimated in a meeting that we would be losing about six or at least five tenths. And then the result turned out to be much better, and in the end, we won today. Overall, we are really very happy.

      Question: You mentioned that there has been a lot of negativity around you lately. Can you tell us more about how you dealt with all this? Carlos Sainz, your former teammate, just said that he has always admired your ability to bounce back and how you react to problems and failures...

      Charles Leclerc: Well, I don't really know... I think when there is so much negativity around, it is always unpleasant. You want to somehow disconnect from all this noise. I try to look at my phone less, but at the same time focus on the most important tasks and get a proper understanding of what is happening.

      They say that in our sport, today you are a hero, but tomorrow you can become nobody again – and vice versa. This can really affect your perception of what is happening, so the task was just to try to suppress this noise – it was important not to listen to anyone and not pay attention.

      I know that I haven't become a worse driver. I just needed to achieve the right feelings behind the wheel. These cars are quite specific and require a completely different approach to driving compared to what it was like when we first started racing. So it took more time to get used to them.

      I was driving quite confidently at the beginning of the season, but then I became less comfortable behind the wheel. We changed the settings significantly, but returning to a higher level took longer than I would have liked. Additionally, we faced problems in races that caused me to lose a lot of points. Overall, it was not a pleasant situation, but I am very glad that it is now behind us.

      Nevertheless, I repeat: this is just the beginning. I have only won one race, so I can't get carried away and think that everything is behind me. I mean, lately, I have had to constantly fight with the car, and I do not take it for granted that the troubles are in the past. I will continue to work and try to achieve the right feelings behind the wheel as often as possible.

      Question: Do you have confidence that in two weeks you will be able to fight for victory in Spa?

      Charles Leclerc: Right now, I am not thinking about that. I suppose I will just try to achieve the same feelings behind the wheel as I had in Silverstone. If I can do that, then I am confident that I can extract everything that the SF-26 is capable of. If not, the situation will become complicated.

      But overall, it should be emphasized that our entire team is making maximum efforts to catch up with Mercedes and challenge them. We expected to have a lot of difficulties in Silverstone. Before this weekend, we had a feeling that it would be even harder for us in Spa. But since we won today, we are probably a bit closer to the leaders than we initially thought.

      However, this still needs to be verified, and for that, we also need to understand why everything went incredibly well in Silverstone against our expectations. This is what we will pay special attention to, but personally, I do not intend to think only about victory, because that is the wrong approach. I plan to focus on the work process to achieve the most comfortable feelings behind the wheel and the optimal balance of the car.